I worked in 2 different ER’s for about 5 years in the Phoenix metro area, albeit 20+ years ago. Saw a fair amount of dog bites. Little dogs seemed to lead the pack (pun intended) and their bites were often in the face of little kids (at their level) or de-gloving of fingers. My aunt has a little wiener dog that got pissed and latched into my youngest’s ear last year, ripped it up pretty good, he didn’t provoke it but the dog was just done with people (family event). Bigger dog bites were not as common but they usually were punctures. I never saw a fatal dog bite victim but we weren’t a trauma center.
I’ve been attacked and bit by a Rottweiler and my hand was a chew toy as a kid while walking to school. It just ran up and grabbed me. Also many years later attacked by 2 Rottweilers. That was when I was a cop and I stopped them with my baton.
I worked in the ghetto as a cop back then and there were 2 predominant dogs- chihuahuas, who would get loose and run in packs (we called them ghetto dingos) and they would friggen attack you all the time, but were easy to punt away. The other was the pit bull, most of which would back down when you yelled or advanced on them but not all would. And, some of those pits were built like a body builder, wide muscular heads and bodies. I never saw one attack, but I’m sure it would be hard to stop.
My family has always had pit bulls, I grew up with them and we’ve had very good ones. I don’t think they bite more prolifically than other breeds, but I think the statistics show that when they do bite, they do kill more prolifically. It seems like when they get to the place where they bite, their intentions have changed dramatically. But, even by the stats, we are talking a small, small percentage.
I grew up with pit bulls, everyone in my family had them and my childhood dog was a pit. That being said, I trust no one’s dogs. I also don’t own a pit today.
www.fatalpitbullattacks.com
